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Age Gender And Social Class

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Today Language and especially the media has an impact on the way in which we are positioned in society, and how we are categorised. Throughout this essay we will discuss key concepts of Age, Gender and Social class and how they impact ourselves as individuals or groups. Authors Adam Briggs and Paul Cobley has defined the media as a “Diverse collection of industries and practices, each with their own methods of communication, specific business interests, constraints and audiences”. Therefore, every aspect of our life is influenced.
After decades we are encouraged to perceive differences between men and women as being more significant than they are, primarily since society wants us to. Today, gender is still stereotypical, men are the dominant, …show more content…
“The media gives us images, ways of imagining particular groups which can have material effects on how those groups experience the world, and how they get legislated or even understood by others” (Branston and Stafford, 1996 p.78)
Gender has been impacted by advertising agencies and retailers. I as a child was subjected to gender sensitive clothing such as pink, costume like outfits and T-shirts which read ‘Mummy’s Little Princess’. All created by the likes of Next and Zara, who were featured in the Daily Mail article “Breaking down the gender stereotypes in kid’s clothing” (Associated Press). This has turned into a major global discussion as children are subjected to stereotypical attributes of what it means to be a girl or boy. Although after years of ‘Girls being from Jupiter, and Boys being from Mars’, many brands are slowly changing the gender gap, e.g. Zara has launched a ‘Gender Neutral line’ after criticism. With that said the “Representation of the roles of men and women is a model of the powerful and the …show more content…
Age is a key aspect of our identity and the way we are represented. Gill Branston (2010, 106) states that representation “has the capacity to suggest that some media re-present, over and over again, certain images, stories and situations.” Therefore, it causes a ‘Moral Panic’ (Brett Lamb) and distracts society from real issues, by fixating them on overexaggerated issues that are deemed as ‘natural’. Today there are many norms on ageism that the media has focused on, for example the elderly are presented as a target or a burden on the aging popularity, and young people especially those of colour are ticking time bombs who are focused on isolated activities. Many news reports are written on these issues like an article from the Daily Mail that states ‘Teenagers plotting crimes in their bedroom using social media’. I personally do not think young people should be subjected to these stereotypes, because we are then seen as a danger to. Furthermore, in the aspect of work, ideologically children and older people are placed in vulnerable categories. With that said many people of age are breaking out the ‘old’ stereotype and defying the norms created in society. For example, the 86-year-old ‘Hipster Granny’ who has taken social media by storm and shows that age doesn’t always matter. But as positive as that can be due to our norms and cultural

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